Guys I have a pretty open ended question I think. I know most folks are going to have their own opinion so I will take em all. Okay so I have been thinking about guiding hog hunts and I feel that once a hog has been taken that its meat should be kept even if they dont want it but a guy can only keep or give away so much meat. I don't really feel like the kill and let lay method is very ethical even tho hogs are so over populated if yall would just give me your opinions on the kill and let lay method and where if anywhere you might be able to take a hog that's dead and donate the meat.

Thanks,
Jody

Any hog over 250# I'd leave it behind...

Any hog killed after May or so I'd leave behind...

Any hog that appears to be old, I'd leave behind...

250# and less killed in the dead of winter, gut it, skin it and quarter it up for the processor.

TxP

Does the meat really get that bad after the 250 lb mark

One thing I learned that helps expedite the cleaning process is to NOT gut the hog. Skin it enough to get the leg quarters and loin and leave the gut sack intact.

I cleaned my first hog in the summer and it only took 30 minutes to get the loin and quarters.

I'm sure there was meat left and wasted, but I was after sausage so I got what I needed.

i take mine down to a gut pile.....kill too many to clean em all.... besides, if i want a hog to clean, its only a phone call away and i dont have to do it in the middle of the night.....

i eat most of the hogs that I catch. My family hardly every buys meat. What I can't eat right now gets fed to the dogs in quarters, hide hoof and all. About the only time i let one lay is if I've caught it far away from someplace vehicle accessable and can't pack it out for some reason, or if I have a hot or injured dog that I need to tend to. i'll usually try and at least take some backstraps but I will let one lay if I have to. I've tried the donation route, but most of the shelters and whatnot near me won't take feral pork, or it has to go through a processor and it's too expensive to make it worth your while. I've heard that sometimes zoos and big cat rescues will take them.



no it does not. I've eaten plenty of big boars that tasted fine. It's all in how quick you get the meat on ice, and how you take care of it after. If you do the "let it bleed in the cooler" method you will be fine. If you take it from the field straight to the processor it's gonna taste like a dirty sock smells.

This guy was over 250, caught in august and tasted fine

No not always, just depends on the pig, where it was shot, how the meat was kept after processing, etc..

This pig (as you can see the size) is well over 250lbs but was great eating. The processor asked if we wanted chops off it but just got hot breakfast sausage. Didn't even have that wild pig smell when cooked.

99.9% are coyote bait, buzzard feed...every now and then hams off a 50-75 pounder...thats it...kill to many to mess with.

They are vermin that need to be exterminated. Occasionally I'll take the back straps and hams out of some of the small ones, but no way I could eat all of them even if I was so inclined (which I'm not). Buzzards gotta eat, same as the worm.

David

I would definatley bleed em out on ice in a cooler for awhile. I didnt realize so many people let em lay but I do realize they are such a problem and can only do so much as to distributing the meat. Can the meat be sold?

We look at them as over-glorified rats..and not really in the business of hunting them, just killin' 'em when we see them. Most we will leave laying and if it's the right time of day will make a cpl phone calls to see if someone wants it. Ever so often I will skin one and donate it for a few dozen tamales. But as far as eating pork to go in the freezer.....plenty of 4H younguns raising show hogs that don't make the premium sale..keeping them interested in it by recooping some costs is worth more to me than worrying about leaving ferals laying.

I eat the ones I kill.

There are so many, so many sizes that you really shouldn't worry about "having" to eat them all. If everyone just shot what they could/wanted to eat, there would be million times more.

Okay so I won't feel so bad for feeding the Yotes now.

I eat any and all I kill but the biggest I have killed was 300 pounds or so and it didnt have a 'wild' taste and I usually dont take them to the processor.

I generally take the backstraps out of all of them. 150 lb. or less sow, I'll take the hams too.

Very rarely I will strap one out, but only if they are particularly clean and I don't notice that strong sick/sweet smell when walking up. However, if my wife would eat them, I'd ham and strap every single one I shot.

I finally had to sell my freezer because it sat empty for two years...

There's nothing at all wrong with letting them lay- nature will process it for you and not a scrap will be wasted...

We eat a lot of them. But in no way can we eat 50 a year. Some are given to neighbors, I am even happy to process for them (we do that here at home) We also have several hog roast a year. There just somes a point where you cannot eat taht much. They will not take them in this area for the food banks unless they go thru a processor and I do not do that. So they become coyote bait or buzzard food.

I really agree with not gutting them. Skin em and take what you want, leave guts inside. The process is faster and cleaner!

We eat alot of ours, we do our own processing. While I was in college, we would eat bbq ferral ribs twice a week. However I defianately think some of them have a bad taste/smell. Not dependant on size, some do some dont. I have done the week to two weeks on ice with several that still had it, and these are pigs that were shot gutted skinned quartered and goin into ice within 30 minutes of dropping the hammer. Ate some bores that were over 250 you would have swore were a domestic pig and some that didnt weigh 100 that i chose not to eat.

matt

Hey Canazes9, "buzzards got to eat, same as the worm".....I think I heard Clint Eastwood say that...wasnt it the outlaw Josey Wales..

I reckon so

no dog nearby to spit your tobaccy juice on?

My miniature schnauzer is on the couch beside my wife, but I don't think I could get away with it...

David

Ditches are a great place to put them!

i get the backstraps depending on the time of year. if the pig is real little ill keep the whole thing.